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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. content — happy
  4. deal — a big deal
  5. tear — to rip
  6. ball — a dance
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. ball — a great time
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. tube — the underground
  11. deal — an agreement
  12. mine — for digging
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. tear — from crying
  17. cold — not warm
  18. tear — from crying
  19. content — the amount
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. tube — a container
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. cold — an illness
  24. deal — to handle

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com